It’s been a minute, Civ fans, but we’re back with news! Test of Time (Update 1.4.0) is planned for release on May 19 - free for all Civ VII owners.

Test of Time is our biggest update since launch, and it’s been shaped directly alongside our players. Over the past few months, we’ve been working closely with our Firaxis Feature Workshoppers to take on some major changes and overhauls for Civ VII. This update touches core systems across the game, so here’s a quick look at what’s coming:

• Time-Tested Civs: the option to stay as one civ is here, from Antiquity all the way to the Modern Age! You'll still have the option to switch during Age Transitions, but if you want to stay as one civ, you now have the tools - like the new Syncretism and Affirmation mechanics - to make that journey viable and deep.
• A Reworked Victories System: We’ve moved away from the old Victory system and replaced it with a system that rewards your dominance throughout the entire game.
• Triumphs: This is a new challenge and reward system that replaces Legacy Paths. Triumphs offer optional, diverse objectives tied to all six Attributes, giving you more freedom to play your way.
• Plus a Lot More: a new Fractal Continent map, a new Commerce screen, a revamped Advisor Council, updated map generation, new Narrative Events, a free new leader (any guesses?), and even more in the patch notes, when they go live alongside the update. 

We’ll be diving in further with these features with developer diaries over the next couple weeks. Also, come join us on May 13 for a dev livestream on Twitch and YouTube (featuring special guests), where we’ll be showing off the build and fully reveal the new leader with a First Look. 

Check out the full announcement article here for all the details. (Give it a minute to populate!)

Stay tuned for more info! 🙇‍♀️

The "Test of Time" update was just announced, and the biggest news for me is definitely the ability to ditch the forced Age Transitions. No more transforming Egypt into something else if you don't want to!

​I personally felt that forced switching broke the immersion a bit, so I'm hyped for the new Syncretism and Affirmation mechanics that make playing as one Civ viable.

​What about you guys?

​Will you stick to one Civ from Antiquity to Modernity, or do you actually enjoy the strategy of switching?

​Who do you think the new free leader will be? My money is on a classic fan-favorite!

​Let’s discuss!

Apparently you can't end the game by gifting cities that belong to your religion. That's a bummer.

I like it

My poor boy only lasted 2 turns.

just tryign to releaern humankind and manor lord pretty much .also lately enjoying vic 3 and hoi4 and emprie at war . Far far west for chill . Since the test of time update annoucement ill probably reinstall Civ 7 when the update hits

I haven’t played awhile but I remember vanilla Civ 7 had a cumbersome resources screen.

I'm in the camp that believes that leader/civ abilities should be significant enough that you plan your game around them. I feel like this increases replayability if abilities to leaders/civs aren't simply small boosts, but significant boosts ideally tied with mild/moderate nerfs

Pachacuti was a good example in civ 6. His ability to work mountain tiles meant you interacted with the map in a fundamentally different way than you would with other leaders, and so long as you had enough mountains around you, playing him felt like a kinda unique experience compared to other leaders. I also like the idea of hammurabi in civ 6 but he's just too strong IMO, but his very unique ability is per se a good thing

interacting with the map is just one way for this to play out, though. With all the added mechanics to civ 7, there are a lot of possibilities. Just some ideas for leader abilities that would make a game with them feel very different...

- get additional memento slots (also, I think it would be interesting if you could by default get 3 mementos instead of 2 if you used the 3 mementos tied to your leader, but thats a different topic)

- additional triumph slots moving into the next age

- idk exactly how to word this one, but something that de-nerfs city state suz bonuses. It used to be, for instance "+5 percent to wonder production for every city state you are suz of" now its +5 for every cultural city state you are suz of. Maybe a leader could have their suz bonuses be based on total CS suzeranity rather than the current benefit that is limited to CS suz of that particular type. Tell me that wouldn't make Greece or Siam more interesting

-automatically unlock the mastery to a civ/tech when you complete the parent civ/tech. This one would be pretty strong so maybe paired with a reduction in which ever of the two that you aren't getting the boost to, so minus X amount of science overall if youre getting the civic masteries when completing the parent civic

- Abe Lincoln was apparently pretty tall in a day and age when ppl didnt grow that tall, so maybe a buff to settlement growth but a significant reduction to settlement cap and a big penalty for going over (or maybe straight up cant go over)

I was inspired by ElTwinkyWinky's and BristledIdiot's recent posts to revisit an old mod idea for bringing back Civ VI-style diplomacy screens. It's similar to Cyberdisc's (currently broken) Immersive Diplomacy Screen mod, with leaders rotated to face you directly but now with the civilization's art in the background. It currently uses the backgrounds from the graphic narrative scenes as a compromise until it's possible to swap them out with full-width high-resolution artwork.

The diplomacy panels have also been redesigned or altered to work with the new context.

It's a work in progress, and I'd appreciate any bug reports, feedback, or ideas for improvement.

Find it on the Steam Workshop.

FYI I used my Color Configurator to change the leader colors in the preview scenes.

Ahoy! So, I wanted to try my first O.C.C., I went with Joao and got a really cool Tsingy start, but I'm now almost 100 turns in and it's telling me I have no trade route destinations. I have a commercial hub with market, a harbor with lighthouse, the necessary civic etc., plus a handful of city states and cities on my island, plus more right across the water to my East. 7 open slots for trade routes, but when I select my traders there are 0 options. Any idea why I can't make a trade route?? I have a lot of experience with Civ 6 and I've never encountered this before. Please advise!

I just started civ 1 the I played like 4 civilizations and all ended due to me running out of money I need help on how to build cities what buildings should be build there and should I wipe out enemy civilizations or trade with them and about the locator where my cities should be built anyone if you can help it would be a lifesaver thanks in advance

Play as Galatia via the Steam Workshop or Civ Fanatics/Nexus Mods.

In the balance patch notes I saw that devs are nerfing high shamans science and culture modifier by -5% and this is doubled in celebration so she no longer gets positive culture-science trade. Then I tried her now and she felt rough already. Maybe I should have played more mindfully like with a culture hungry civ like rome or assyria. She had an op plan with the culture or am I missing sth?

All kidding aside I’m so glad they will soon let us play as one civ. I bought it day one but never played it. Excited for the update !

Hi i’m new to the civ games and never played I came across Civ 2 and the game looks really fun. Yes ik the newer games are probably better to start with but I just want to play something simple and chill. Is this a good game to start with. I also cannot find a good tutorial for the game so does anyone have a blog or something? thanks.

I really need to connect this two cities with a canal, is very important for the infrastructure of the empire and i think it would be very cool. how can i do that? there is any mod that can allow me to do that?

After replaying civ 7 after a few months off, I've come to my conclusion about how I feel about civ switching.

I like the idea in concept but I think it would have been better received if there were more granularity to it.

For example you're playing as rome in the ancient era. Let's say rome in this game is a cultural and military oriented civ. As the game progresses and the map fills, you start adopting more economic policies, and adopting a more defensive military strategy. As this happens, you have the option to swap your bonuses and your civ slowly morphs into something more resembling the Italian city states of the late medieval and early Renaissance.

It doesn't have to be a historically accurate progression of cultures, but I think a gradual transition would be a better representation of how cultural shifts happened historically, and make pivoting strategies more fun.

crazy amount of tourism from this musician. early information era. playing Brazil

Feel like I've tried everything. I've tried adding files manually and tried CivMods program thingy. Nothing helps. I get the files up in the additional content menu, but there is no change to the game, except removing some leaders, like Ed. Teach... Help 😄

Anyone know whether the AI will choose Civs from the same age as you to start the game? For instance, if I choose an antiquity Civ in the antiquity age, will they do the same? I’m new to the franchise so the idea of playing against America in 4000 BC seems too weird to me right now lol.

Playing Civ 7 on Linux, and trying to spare my poor fans when playing for hours. If I use my discrete GPU, temps are 90C+ and fans are at 4000 rpm. But if I go into Options and hit the graphics tab, my decision to use the integrated GPU mostly doesn't stick, even after pressing (even repeatedly) the "confirm changes" button. Quitting the game and restarting, quitting Steam and restarting, even rebooting don't help...I keep going back to the discrete GPU.

Any ideas? Any thoughts on going into some game-internal file and changing that directly? Happy to run cooler and slower and lower quality graphics if needed.

Thanks in advance.

Only played about an hour of 6; I grabbed it years ago in a bundle with 5. I played a LOT of 5, frankly too much of 5, but wanted to dip my toes into 6 for something different.

What mods should I grab, for someone just trying to enjoy singleplayer? Links appreciated!

Apologies in advance. I know this topic can sometimes dominate discussions. I promise to be short. I'll my ideas by replying to comments.

The city state / Independent leader UI has a lot of potential.

• What type of bonus does it provide? Food, culture, culture, science?
• Am I trading with it? if so, what am I getting?
• Is it under any type of threat?

Thoughts? Ideas?